Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) Media Release
People experiencing financial and social disadvantage are skipping meals to pay their energy bills as nine in ten struggle to keep their homes cool in summer, alarming new research by ACOSS has revealed.
A survey of 1,011 people across Australia found half of respondents are going without food, medication and other essentials to try to pay their energy bills. Others are selling belongings or turning to buy now, pay later schemes.
The survey also revealed the devastating health impacts of hot homes. More than nine in ten (92%) of people surveyed reported negative impacts of their home getting too hot, with 14% seeking medical attention in the last year because of the heat.
People with a disability or chronic illness, and people receiving income support, were each five times more likely than others to require medical care for heat-related symptoms, including headaches, heat rash, breathing problems, nose bleeds, dehydration, nausea and vomiting, asthma flare-ups, heart conditions, emphysema, diabetes and poor mental health. Renters were three times more likely and First Nations people twice as likely as others to seek heat-related medical attention.
Almost nine in ten respondents (87%) are living in homes that get too hot in summer, with more than half (54%) saying they struggle to cool their homes, many saying this is due to the poor energy performance of housing and cost of energy bills. The heat is not always easily escapable – over three quarters (77%) reported barriers to leaving their home to a cooler location.
Concerningly, almost two thirds (64%) of people surveyed are struggling to pay their energy bills, despite most taking steps to reduce energy usage. First Nations people and renters were particularly impacted, with 88% of First Nations respondents struggling to afford their bills, followed by renters (76%), income support recipients (75%) and people with a disability or chronic health condition (72%).
A third (34%) of respondents have resorted to selling their belongings, while one in five (20%) have turned to high-interest payday loans or ‘buy now, pay later’ schemes. Many said they cut back on using lights (70%) and cooling their homes (69%). Others have stopped inviting people over (45%), go to bed early (34%) and turn off the fridge or other appliances (23%) in a bid to keep their bills down.
Euan, a 61-year-old with chronic pain who receives the disability support pension and lives in social housing in Melbourne with his wife and children, said the nights are “terrible”.
“We do have a fixed air-conditioner but only in the main bedroom, the two kids’ bedrooms get incredibly hot in summer and stay that way,” Euan said.
“Every day is a battle for me and it’s worse at night with the heat. The house is more than 40 years old and the windows are old and single pane.”
Von, a 62-year-old on the Central Coast who struggles to breathe due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and receives a disability pension, said: “The heat is debilitating.
“I get up really early and track the weather, I can’t really open the windows and we have black-out curtains and a floor fan in each bedroom that cools it a little but paying for air-conditioning is out of the question,” Von said.
“Trying to sleep is unbelievable. I take cold showers in the middle of the night to cool down and use wet towels. It’s hard to clean the house because it’s too hot. Cost is a huge factor.”
ACOSS is calling on the federal government to build on the $800 million already provided for home energy upgrades to 110,000 social houses by funding energy upgrades for all 437,700 social housing properties by 2030, prioritising First Nations housing.
It should also fund measures to ensure people in private rentals and low-income homeowners can access home energy upgrades, including mandating energy performance standards for rental properties, and provide debt relief for people in energy debt, among other measures.
ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said: “It’s a complete travesty that in one of the world’s wealthiest nations people are getting sick, skipping meals and delaying medical appointments because they can’t afford to cool and power their homes.
“Climate change is making heatwaves more frequent and intense, with more deaths related to heat than all other natural disasters combined. We urgently need to help people improve the thermal performance of housing, electrify and access rooftop solar and home batteries, with the most help going to low-income and First Nations housing.
“The government must also deliver permanent cost of living relief by raising the rate of JobSeeker and related payment, and the remote area allowance, so people on low incomes can afford their energy bills and be lifted out of poverty.”
Key findings
- 87% of people said their home gets too hot
- 91% of people with a disability or chronic medical condition said their home gets too hot compared to 80% of others
- 91% of people receiving income support said their home gets too hot compares to 81% of others
- 95% of renters said their home gets too hot compared to 81% of owners
- 92% of First Nations people said their homes get too hot compared to 86% of others
- 54% of people said they struggle to cool their homes, mainly due the poor energy performance of housing and cost of energy bills:
- 61% of people with a disability or chronic medical condition struggled to cool their home compared to 43% of others
- 64% of people receiving income support struggled to cool their home compared to 41% of others
- 69% of renters struggled to cool their home compared to 33% of others
- 61% of First Nations people struggled to cool their home compared to 53% of others
- 92% reported negative impacts as a result of their home being too hot
- 14% sought medical attention for heat stress (21% on income support, 29% of First Nations respondents)
- 64% reported struggling to pay energy bills
- 67% of respondents have tried to reduce energy usage, 26% can’t reduce usage any further
- 50% of people are skipping meals to pay energy bills, 34% are selling belongings for cash to pay energy bills
- 92% said they were worried about summers getting hotter, and younger respondents were more worried than older respondents
- Around 9 in 10 agreed the federal government should fund the installation of home energy upgrades, providing the most support for low-income housing, and require landlords to improve the energy performance of rental properties
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Poor buggers here will be so glad to hear of Peter Bludger-Rorter, duttoning away with freeloading, scabbing, extracting, pleasing donors, satisfying the needygreedy with loose money for all needs, out of our hides and arses usually and free to Dutton per expenses gouges. Life is fair, or is it very dark for some?
A survey of 1,011 people across Australia found half of respondents are going without food, medication and other essentials to try to pay their energy bills. Others are selling belongings or turning to buy now, pay later schemes.
There is no doubt that some people are doing it tough but that statement from ACOSS doesn’t make a lot of sense.
As regards going without medication, the federal government has introduced the sixty day prescription system which allows concession card holders to acquire sixty days essential prescription medication at the same cost formerly paid for thirty days ($7.70).
As regards energy bills we are all aware that the federal government provided a $300 energy supplement (in Queensland this was additional to a $1000 energy supplement from the Qld government). Effectively in Queensland, where I live with my wife, as a couple we paid no energy bills for six months (i.e.two quarters).
We live in the tropics, we don’t have air-conditioning, we rely on overhead fans. Perhaps the cost of running air-conditioning just accentuates the issue of energy costs.
There is no reason that I can see for people going without food for the reasons mentioned.
Terry:
That’s a really tone-deaf statement; you not experiencing something doesn’t mean others don’t experience it.
It’s hard to know what to do.
Power rebates have been issued to help, but the privatisation of the power grid has allowed the corporations who own the grids and the power plants to price what they will.
Gee I wish we could snap our fingers and make the problems disappear. I have said that in a recent campaign as I was chatting with an opposing candidate as he whinged about youth crime. To solve the problems needs empathy and a willingness to help from all levels of government, and various agencies and social networks.
And that can mean that we give of ourselves when we see needs go unsatisfied. (And yes, I do)
Bert
Perhaps if we were to grant every household a free allocation of electricity up to an agreed threshold, with anything over and above that allocation charged in the conventional way.
This would ensure that all households had basic access to energy at no cost and would encourage us all to remain within the given threshold before incurring charges.
This would also recognise that electricity is an essential community service to which all citizens have a right of access. It would also be a more efficient than these periodic rebates.
What to do? The word we dare not speak: nationalisation.
Essential infrastructure should always be publicly owned. Transport, communication, water, sewerage, energy.